Category Archives: My paper

New handmade paper

Over recent weeks I’ve been in the papermaking studio creating some new sheets for myself. At the end of June my friend Dinah and myself pulped some unidentified plant fibre which quickly disintegrated and we had to add some other … Continue reading

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Marks in Nature: 1

Having cropped my chosen image (see previous blog post) I cut a piece of lino in reverse. To provide more options I also designed and cut a stencil along similar lines. The stencil is shown on black paper so it’s … Continue reading

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Plant Fibre Paper

A couple of weeks ago I was at the paper arts studio with a friend to check and replenish our supply of paper pulp in preparation for a beginners workshop. There was no plant fibre pulp but we found a … Continue reading

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Paper experimentation

On recent visits to the papermaking studio I’ve been exploring laminating paper. In papermaking terms this means layering multiple pulled pieces together into a single finished sheet. I started with white: as much as possible recycled cotton rag printing paper … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Complete

Both internal and external pages have been printed and bound using reverse piano hinge. Each internal page has a semi-translucent title page preceding it, as an introduction to the following abstracted imagery. Although previous posts have shown the origin of … Continue reading

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Collagraphs with handmade paper

I’ve long been told that it’s difficult to print intaglio on unsized handmade paper, so it was time to give it a go. I always print on quality cotton rag paper, usually 250gsm BFK Rives, so my failures can be … Continue reading

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Paper from pulped fibres

A couple of weeks ago I posted about making paper pulp from a variety of materials including denim and hessian. After the workshop there was plenty left for me to use, so I made some paper from the hessian. It’s … Continue reading

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Pulping fibres

Last week three of us met at Primrose Park to pulp a variety of fibres to be used to create paper at an upcoming workshop we’re teaching. As there will be several participants it called for a more industrial approach … Continue reading

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Kozo: Fibre to Paper

I’ve started transforming some of my kozo fibre (general term for the inner bark of mulberry trees) into sheets of paper. I cut some up and left other bits as long strands. I purchased this as per the photo below … Continue reading

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Another take on natural dyeing

Over the years I’ve done a range of techniques to apply both natural colour (i.e. colour extracted from nature: leaves, bark, berries, plant stems) and natural patterns (i.e. leaf imprints, petals, fronds, pine needles, etc.) to both cloth and paper. … Continue reading

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Printing: new concepts

Intaglio lino print on 100gsm handmade recycled mountboard & orange skin paper Me, today, struggling to come to grips with a new printing idea.  Nothing like spending time with the textbooks.  No matter what you think you know there’s always … Continue reading

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Pineapple paper

A friend gave me some semi-prepared pineapple fibre to make into paper.  The fronds of the pineapple plant had been stripped and dried before being shaped into a hank. I pulled it apart, chopped it into short lengths and boiled … Continue reading

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The value of my banana tree

Having planted 2 banana trees a few years ago we’ve cut one down and harvested the fibres, as there are others now growing. The tree was split into 3; the inner trunk fibre, outer trunk fibre and the leaves/fronds.  These … Continue reading

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Finished book: Aspects of Humanity

Having resolved my text printing issue I’ve been able to go ahead and construct my book. It ticks nearly all the boxes re construction, just a couple of tiny niggles that I’ve learned to improve for my next one in … Continue reading

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You just have to keep trying . . .

. . . until you find a solution With 28 images individually printed onto handmade paper (see stage 1 here), collated and ready to be assembled into my Aspects of Humanity book I have spent a lot of time attempting … Continue reading

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Natural Dyeing with Kirsten Ingemar

5 days natural dyeing at Sturt summer school  was an enjoyable way to start the new year. The course was interesting although I already knew much of what was taught.  I went for several reasons; I’ve never really had a … Continue reading

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Banana pulp

Remember my baby banana trees from way back in October 2016? The left-hand one, living in direct sunlight, grew enormous, had a baby, and was chopped down a month ago.  The baby, now a late teenager (!!), has a baby … Continue reading

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The whitest of white

A day of paper-making this week produced some pristine white A4 sheets ready for printing on in a couple of weeks. Using scraps of recycled cotton rag paper from off-cuts of old prints the result was 20 sheets, smooth on … Continue reading

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Mixing more pulp

After my paper-making last week I had a little pulp remaining and decided to de-freeze some banana fibre pulp I made last year and see how it would mix with the rest.  I also had a bit of recycled pale … Continue reading

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Off the grid

Yesterday.  At home.  Computer off.  Mobile phone out of sight.  Just my husband, my dog Jack and myself.  A rare day, determined to keep the world out. The sun was bright, a little windy but warm and I was in … Continue reading

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Paper-making with size

Size noun 1. any of various gelatinous or glutinous preparations made from glue, starch, etc., used for filling the pores of cloth, paper, etc., or as an adhesive ground for gold leaf on books. verb (used with object), sized, sizing. … Continue reading

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Monoprinting: Linear Containment – Final Stage

The final goal for this project has been to create some A4 sheets of handmade paper embellished/decorated/manipulated to a specific theme for inclusion in a collaborative project to be exhibited in March.  At this stage I am bound to keep … Continue reading

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The glory of oranges

I love my orange tree.  It’s the pride of my garden, closely followed by my mandarin and banana trees.  I’m not a great gardener but this tree rewards me every year, and I’ve just harvested kilos and kilos of gorgeous … Continue reading

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Paper casting

After my debacle with the mixer a few days ago I regrouped, put my brain in gear, and blended some of my pulp into a finer, more smooth paste.  Currently working with banana fibre and cardstock I’m making the components … Continue reading

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Oops, not paying attention!

Do you know how far the contents of a blender splatter when you’re not paying attention and don’t ensure the lid is on before flicking the switch? 3/4 of a blender of water mixed with 1/2 a cup of paper … Continue reading

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Banana fibre paper

I boiled up my banana fibre a few weeks ago and last week blended it to a smooth pulp ready to make paper.  I decided to combine it with some of the leftover  pale-yellow cardstock pulp I made when working … Continue reading

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Banana paper: Stage 1

Whilst having a huge clean-up at Primrose Park recently (the home of Primrose Paper Artists) one of our members came across a couple of bags of banana fibre ready for boiling, before pulping and making paper.  We couldn’t work out … Continue reading

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Paper pulp dipping

My friend Judy & I decided to have a go at this.  I’ve never done it before, never seen it done and haven’t watched any on-line tutorials, but I have seen some superb results.  The piece below, made by Jill … Continue reading

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Continuing recycling prints ……

Following on from my last post, this week I pulped some more of my old print proofs (yes, you’ve guessed it, I have quite a pile of paper to recycle!) and also prepared some of the white offcuts for new … Continue reading

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Recycling prints into paper

About 18 months ago I shredded some of my print proofs and recycled them into new paper, ready to be printed on again.  At that time, a lot of what I pulped had been printed in black or dark inks … Continue reading

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Teabag paper

I finally found time to use my teabag pulp (made in February) into A4 sheets of paper. I defrosted the  pulp and was surprised at just how much there was – I drink a lot of tea! I wasn’t confident … Continue reading

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Tree theme: Collaging plant fibre

Working with my semi prepared swiss cheese plant (Monstera Deliciosa) fibre that I prepared here and here I started shaping and mixing the fibre with some cardamom pulp (kindly donated to me by another paper maker, Jill). Using an old … Continue reading

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Paper making & staining: Progress

Well, quite a few days have passed whilst I’ve been playing with teabag staining sheets of my own hand-made paper to use for chine collé and collaging.  As I previously wrote, some staining has been on flat paper and other … Continue reading

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Paper making & staining: Recycling teabags

Yes, I know, teabags are old-hat.  Everyone works with them.  However, in my view, they are cheap, readily available, durable but lightweight, stain well, and are an all-round good medium to use for both collaging and new paper production. So … Continue reading

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Plant fibre paper: Strelitzia

Having started down the route of learning to make paper from plant material (see previous posts re Monstera Deliciosa trials) I spent a day with my friends at Primrose Paper Arts learning the basics.  As I have a huge Strelitzia … Continue reading

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Plant fibre paper: Progress …… or not

Yesterday, after another period of boiling my swiss cheese plant fibre I let it cool down in the pot overnight.  This morning, out it came straight into a pillow case for the rinsing process again.  No slime, but possibly a … Continue reading

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Plant fibre paper: My first foray!

Ever since seeing a friend pulping banana leaf & stalk and then later turning it into wonderful textural paper sheets I’ve been wanting to have a go. Mandy made two colours, that I saw.  One was a beautiful rich brown, … Continue reading

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Making denim paper: Colouring

Even though I’ve been busy elsewhere I still managed to find time to drag my remaining denim pulp out and form some new sheets. Blue, never having been my favourite colour, isn’t something I want hundreds of sheets of, so … Continue reading

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Making denim paper: Stage 2

Back at Primrose Park I liberated my pulped-denim vat, gave it a good stir and started making paper. My aim was to produce some quality A3 sheets but it didn’t go too well.  My couching cloths were slightly too small … Continue reading

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Making denim paper: Stage 1

This was a strenuous, fun, NOISY day!  My first experience with transforming an old pair of jeans into paper. The jeans were cut up, all seams, studs and the zipper were removed.  The remainder was cut into postage stamp pieces … Continue reading

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